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Saturday, August 04, 2012

Fred Wilson's Blog: A Gift That Keeps Giving

Fred Wilson has an impressive track record as a VC. That is public knowledge. I have lost count of how many tech companies I got really, really excited about only to later learn it was a Fred Wilson portfolio company.

The dots I am trying to connect in this post is to propose the thesis that Fred Wilson's blog has been fundamental to his very impressive work as a VC. As in, the great work he has managed to do over the past decade he could not have done without his blog. He has a method about his comments section. That is where he goes fishing.

That thesis springs forth a few questions.

One, is it a required? As in should all VCs aspire to blog? I think yes. There are a lot of a A caliber VCs out there who don't blog daily (or ever) like Fred Wilson does. But what I am saying is if you are starting out as a VC today blogging daily is one of the things you can not afford to not do.

Two, other than fishing expeditions is blogging good for your mind? This is a huge yes. I think blogging is for everybody regardless of industry, regardless of what stage they are at in their careers. Blogging is working out for the mind. That is primarily why I blog, speaking just for myself. It also helps with meaningful networking. If Fred did not have a blog, and I did not have a blog, I doubt we would have met to date, I doubt we would have known each other.

Three, could this thesis be extended to tech entrepreneurs? That is a question up in the air. Because there is no A grade tech entrepreneur (or B grade) who blogs daily. Mark Cuban blogs weekly or every few weeks, but I think of him as a retired entrepreneur, he is more of an angel, and besides, his blog does not have Disqus.

I'd love to see some top tech entrepreneurs blog daily like Fred Wilson does. Is that possible? Advisable? I'd hope so. I wish some A grade people running for office did the same.

To Fred's credit he is a top blogger regardless of his track record as a VC. He goes toe to toe with people who are full time bloggers with nothing else going on on the side. I mean, I think Fred could earn a living simply through blogging. Talk about Plan B, not that he needs one.

Fred Wilson is my favorite solo blogger for a few different reasons. But there came a time when I did not read his blog for months. I felt like I was too sucked into it. I needed my space, I thought. But then my recent thought has been not that I should stay away, but that top entrepreneurs he is not invested in should also read his blog.

Once Fred paid tribute to Ben Horowitz on the other coast by saying he - Fred - simply writes checks. As in, Ben has been an entrepreneur. But in some ways simply writing checks has advantages. Away from action you can get better at vision and insight. Zuck struggles with mobile. Fred's blog talks often about mobile. I don't know of books delivering similar wisdom.